Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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133. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment in relation to the circular economy Act the reason, in considering levies, his Department only cites Irish business against litter information collected by volunteers instead of the more robust and scientifically conducted national litter pollution monitoring system data which was commissioned by his Department; if the contrasting results of the NLPMS data have ever been taken into consideration; if he will commit to taking this more robust data into account when making future decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7152/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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All relevant data is considered when introducing environmental reforms; and this includes the levy on disposable cups for hot drinks. Last year following the signing of the Circular Economy Act, I published the draft regulations, together with a comprehensive Regulatory Impact Assessment for public consultation.

In 1999, my Department established the National Litter Pollution Monitoring System (NLPMS) to provide a continuous and objective assessment of Ireland’s litter problems and enable local authorities manage litter pollution in a systematic, structured manner. The NLPMS publishes the results of its surveys online at www.litter.ie/.

Since 2002, an Taisce has been carrying out litter surveys of our main towns and cities on behalf of Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) and this programme has been hugely successful in transforming the cleanliness of those cities and towns. IBAL also publishes its results online at ibal.ie/anti-litter-league/.

In June 2022, IBAL reported that while there had been a sharp fall in the number of litter blackspots across the country, the prevalence of coffee cup litter remained high. NLPMS results, published in September 2022, show that cups accounted for 1.7% of total litter pollution in 2021, with lids accounting for a further 1.5%.

While the levy is very likely to reduce litter pollution, the more pressing objective is to reduce the waste caused by single-use cups. The EPA’s 2018 Waste Characterisation Survey indicates that coffee cups account for approximately 2% (14,000 tonnes) of non-household waste per year. This equates to around 730 million cups per year. This is an entirely avoidable waste and I want to encourage people to prevent it occurring by incentivising people to use reusable cups.